Reflections on the Writing and Teaching Life

The 24 Hour Play Festival

Beginning tomorrow, I will engage in what might be the most extraordinary writing challenge of my life. The Playhouse on Park Theatre in West Hartford, Connecticut will be hosting the 24 Hour Play Festival. While at first glance that sounds like a festival of around-the-clock plays, it is actually nothing of the sort. It is a festival in which a playwright, a director, and a cast of four have a single 24 hour period to write, rehearse, memorize, and then perform a one-act play before an audience!

Yes, you read that correctly. Friday at 8pm, I will report to the theatre to meet my director and cast. We will spend some time together getting acquainted and team building. After that, the cast and director will go home and I will get to work writing the play. It is due at 7am Saturday morning. When the script is finished, I get to go home and sleep (and anyone who knows me knows that the sleep part will not be occurring). At 8am, the director and cast will show up to begin rehearsing and memorizing my play. At 12:30 pm, I will return to work with my cast and director to help with costumes, props, and provide some technical assistance. Rehearsal work will continue through the afternoon, in addition to some script refining, followed by a full dress rehearsal. We will then all dine together, take a half hour to collect ourselves, and then…curtain!

The Playhouse on Park Theatre in West Hartford, CT. Host of the 24 Hour Play Festival.

So less than forty-eight hours from now, a play I have not yet written directed by someone I have never met featuring a cast I have never seen will already have had its premiere!

Is this insane? Absolutely! Can I wait for it to begin? Absolutely not!

So if you are in the area and want to support local theatre and enable mental illness, please come to the festival. It’s at 8pm on Saturday, August 2nd. Admission is only $10. Please see the Playhouse’s web site for directions and any further information: http://playhouseonpark.org/

I hope to see some of you there! Either way, expect a full report here next week…